(SEE 23:26)

Place the curtain under the row of hooks in the roof of the Tent, and put behind the curtain the Covenant Box containing the two stone tablets. The curtain will separate the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place.

Put the lid on the Covenant Box.

Once a year Aaron is to perform the ritual for purifying the altar by putting on its four projections the blood of the animal sacrificed for sin. This is to be done every year for all time to come. This altar is to be completely holy, dedicated to me, the LORD."

Then he took the two stone tablets and put them in the Covenant Box. He put the poles in the rings of the Box and put the lid on it.

Then he put the Box in the Tent and hung up the curtain. In this way he screened off the Covenant Box, just as the LORD had commanded.

Then the priests carried the Covenant Box into the Temple and put it in the Most Holy Place, beneath the winged creatures.

Behind the second curtain was the tent called the Most Holy Place.

but only the high priest goes into the inner tent, and he does so only once a year. He takes with him blood which he offers to God on behalf of himself and for the sins which the people have committed without knowing they were sinning.

The Holy Spirit clearly teaches from all these arrangements that the way into the Most Holy Place has not yet been opened as long as the outer tent still stands.

We have, then, my friends, complete freedom to go into the Most Holy Place by means of the death of Jesus.

He opened for us a new way, a living way, through the curtain---that is, through his own body.

There in the LORD's presence he shall put the incense on the fire, and the smoke of the incense will hide the lid of the Covenant Box so that he will not see it and die.

You must stay at the entrance of the Tent day and night for seven days, doing what the LORD has commanded. If you don't, you will die. This is what the LORD has commanded me."

be killed by coming near these most sacred objects. To prevent this from happening, Aaron and his sons shall go in and assign each man his task and tell him what to carry.

The LORD said to Moses, "Put Aaron's stick back in front of the Covenant Box. It is to be kept as a warning to the rebel Israelites that they will die unless their complaining stops."

Then the curtain hanging in the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split apart,

Let us, then, hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we have a great High Priest who has gone into the very presence of God---Jesus, the Son of God.

Let us have confidence, then, and approach God's throne, where there is grace. There we will receive mercy and find grace to help us just when we need it.

We have, then, my friends, complete freedom to go into the Most Holy Place by means of the death of Jesus.

Then the cloud covered the Tent and the dazzling light of the LORD's presence filled it.

Because of this, Moses could not go into the Tent.

As the priests were leaving the Temple, it was suddenly filled with a cloud

Then Solomon prayed: "You, LORD, have placed the sun in the sky, yet you have chosen to live in clouds and darkness.

(SEE 5:11)

"Make a lid of pure gold, 45 inches long and 27 inches wide.

one for each end of the lid. Make them so that they form one piece with the lid.

Put the two stone tablets inside the Box and put the lid on top of it.